Pollution killing 5 lakh people annually

WTN- A recent study by IIT Kanpur’s civil engineering department has established that at least 5 lakh people are dying every year in the country due to pollution-related ailments.

It has said that though automobile smoke and smoke from earthen stoves (chulhas) constitute a mere 27 per cent of the suspended particulate matter in the air, they cause 70 per cent of the deaths related to pollution, which points towards the deadliness of the smoke from these two sources. These 27 per cent of the particulate matters cause deadly ailments like chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, whooping cough, asthma and cancer.

The study conducted across cities like Kanpur, Delhi, Lucknow, Patna, Jaipur etc found that urban agglomerations of north India were the worst affected due to their population density and unhealthy practices.

The study says that particulate matter less than 2.5 microgram (that constitute the 27 per cent) is the most dangerous because due to their micro size, they can easily enter the lungs and arteries while those above 2.5 microgram cannot. The governments have no ready plan to implement which can decisively ameliorate the worsening air quality in the country.

Several steps are taken in bits and pieces from time to time but there is no comprehensive plan that ensures some major adjustments in the way we live or the technologies we use. Pollution levels are not reducing despite all these piecemeal and short term measures because whatever minor gains we are achieving is offset by the rising number of vehicles on the roads and a growing population pressure on conventional fuels, which is spiking their use.

The Ujjwala scheme of the PM to replace the unhealthy chulhas with LPG cylinders in rural India has been a major reformatory process in lessening pollution in recent times. Rural India has huge dependence on the earthen burners instead of the clean LPG fuel due to lesser availability of the latter and lesser awareness on the benefits of its use. The free inclusion of all households in rural India in the LPG scheme has seen a major shift in the fuel use and lifestyle pattern in the hinterlands. But we need more such innovative steps to control the spiraling pollution menace.

E-vehicles have to be introduced at the earliest, even if it means providing subsidies to buyers in the initial years to promote it. Infrastructure to facilitate charging of e-vehicles has to be established fast to improve the acceptability of such vehicles. Moreover, public transport network has to be spruced up in cities to make it more viable for a large section of the population which still keeps away from it due to the inconveniences and logistic handicaps.

All developed nations have put in place a public transport system in such a way that more and more people leave their cars home and use it. India too needs to remove the hurdles and impediments to make public transport more accessible and more connected to the city interiors to include more people in it. Modes of public transport like metros, shuttle services, buses, vans etc can drastically reduce dependence on personal cars. All public transport must be run on clean fuel. We are going slow on such reforms while the need of the hour is to aggressively push for these, as we are already running late and much damage to environment has already been done.